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Influences of Subcooling on

Y. Elkassabgi Burnout of Horizontal Cylindrical


Graduate Student.
Student Mem. ASME
Heaters
J. H. Lienhard The peak pool boiling heat flux is observed on horizontal cylindrical heaters in
acetone, Freon-113, methanol, and isopropanol over ranges of subcooling from zero
Professor.
to 130°C. Photographs, and the data themselves, revealed that there are three
Fellow ASME
distinct burnout mechanisms at different levels of subcooling. Three interpretive
Heat Transfer/Phase Change Laboratory, models provide the basis for accurate correlations of the present data, and data from
Mechanical Engineering Department, the literature, in each of the three regimes. Burnout is dictated by condensation on
University of Houston, the walls of the vapor jets and columns at low subcooling. In the intermediate
Houston, TX 77004 regime, burnout is limited by natural convection, which becomes very effective as
vapor near the heater reduces boundary layer resistance. Burnout in the high-
subcooling regime is independent of the level of subcooling, and is limited by the
process of molecular effusion.

Introduction stepdown
transformer
The problem of predicting the peak pool boiling (or
"burnout") heat flux qmax in subcooled liquids has received 0"
© v o Itmeter
, temperature
sensor

intermittent attention for over 30 years; yet it remains essen-


tially unresolved. Perhaps work has been less intense than in ^/
thermal
other areas of boiling because, strictly speaking, true steady
pool boiling cannot be subcooled. The boiled liquid in a stag- D.C. p o w e r
YM1m UPM E; TZZX
regulator

current
nant pool will eventually warm to the saturation temperature. supply lead uniform
t e m p e r a t u r e bath
However, since a heater in a large bath can operate in quasi- mercury
- cooling coil
static subcooled boiling for a long time, subcooled burnout is thermometer
- test section
important in the short term. Furthermore, if cool liquid is preheater
replenished, either by slow fluid motion or a cooling process in
the bath, a condition very close to pool boiling can be main-
magnetic
tained indefinitely. Finally, since subcooled behavior is impor- stirrer
tant in flow boiling, an understanding of the zero velocity
limit is a part of a general understanding of burnout in flow
boiling. Fig. 1 Schematic representation of the experimental apparatus
Kutateladze (1951) first looked at the subcooled boiling
burnout heat flux <7max>sub, and argued that since some fraction
of the heat had to go to warming the liquid to its boiling point
before boiling could occur, one could represent q max.sub as meant that additional vapor would have to be generated at a
heater surface before Helmholtz instability caused burnout.
^/max.sub The amount of vapor condensed must then be established by a
= const »Ja (1) process of transient heat conduction in the moving liquid-
((max
vapor interface. Thus they obtained a correlation that explicit-
where the Jakob number ly displays the familiar formula for transient conduction into a
Ja = pfCpATmb/pgh/g (2) semi-infinite medium
Ar s u b == the liquid subcooling = (r s a t - T bath ); and qmm = the ^max,sub 2A:Ars,
saturated peak heat flux. ; 1 + const- (3)
*?max
Kutateladze and Schneiderman (before 1953) measured
<7max,sub o n horizontal cylinders. Their limited data in water, where T was Zuber's approximate lifetime of the vapor jets
ethanol, and iso-octane suggested that <7maXiSUb varied in direct irfli
proportion to Ja and thus to A7 , sub ; but they also suggested ( ° )1/2 ( "3 ) (4)
v g ( P\s(pf-pJo/
/-Pg)c
that the constant in equation (1) should contain the factor g(Pf-p„K
(Pf/pg)0-011 to account for the "recirculation of unheated sub- The Zuber-Tribus-Westwater mechanism remains the most
cooled liquid." The maximum subcoolings that they observed probable one for subcooled burnout; however it has not suc-
were 64°C in water, 120°C in ethanol, and 76°C in iso-octane. ceeded in providing very good correlation of the existing sub-
They did their measurements on graphite rods, whose cooled data.
diameters they failed to report.
Ivey and Morris (1962) (see also Ivey and Morris, 1966) pro-
Zuber et al. (1963) suggested in 1961 that subcooling would vided the following modification of Kutateladze and
augment burnout by condensing a fraction of the departing Schneiderman's correlation:
vapor on the walls of the jets through which it flowed. This
1+0 Ja (5)
\ P f j
Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division and presented at the 2nd
ASME-JSME Joint Thermal Engineering Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii,
Equation (5) correlated the data of Kutateladze, and their own
March 1987. Manuscript received by the Heat Transfer Division October 27, data for horizontal wires 1.22 to 2.67 mm in diameter in
1986. Keywords: Boiling. water, in the range 0 < Ar s u b <72°C. The correlation was only

Journal of Heat Transfer MAY 1988, Vol. 1 1 0 / 4 7 9


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c o p p e r ——. at atmospheric pressure. The heaters were mounted as shown
current lead in Fig. 2.
( 6 . 3 5 mm dia.)
<z> In each case, the bath was either preheated or cooled, and
thoroughly mixed, to a predetermined temperature. An array
• electroplated of thermocouples in the liquid was used to confirm that this
nichrome or
s t e e l wire
copper procedure yielded a uniform bath temperature within 1/2°C
electrode
Jhk
^'"<^i
prior to burnout. The mixing and heating (or cooling) were
then stopped for about half a minute which was enough to
a c t i v e length "
of heater
^w^ guarantee that gross fluid motion (as evidenced by bubble mo-
- set screw
tion) had damped out. The heater was then rapidly powered
Fig. 2 Detail of the heater mounting up to about 90 percent of qmax. Then it was brought to burn-
out over another 15 to 30 s, which was slow enough to
guarantee that boiling remained quasi-static.
accurate within ±25 percent, and failed to represent data for A total of 631 such observations were made with approx-
other geometries. imately equal numbers of observations in each fluid, and only
two or three observations were made on any one heating ele-
Thus, by 1966, it had been established that gmax>SUb varied
ment. The heating elements were all nichrome with the excep-
more or less as ATsub, at least when ATmb was not too great.
tion of four observations made on steel heaters in Freon-113.
However, the influence of both geometry and geometric scale
Figure 2 shows the mounting of the heater elements. Tapered
had not been clarified at all. Furthermore, the fact that the
copper electrodes were electroplated on the ends of each wire
thermal conductivity had to enter the process (as indicated by
to eliminate any end effects. Each wire was inspected for any
Zuber et al., 1963) was still an important neglected
flaws, washed with detergent soap, rinsed in water, and finally
consideration.
rinsed with the fluid to be boiled, before it was installed.
Our objective here is to produce an expanded set of <7maXiSUb
data for a given geometry (the horizontal cylinder); to look for To obtain the very highest levels of subcooling, we im-
different regimes of subcooled burnout; and finally to provide mersed the test container in a bath of isopropanol mixed with
either burnout predictions or at least conceptual models for dry ice instead of the control scheme shown in Fig. 1.
correlating the results over a range of fluids and geometric More complete details of the experiment, and complete
scales. tabulations of the data, are given by Elkassabgi (1986). The
probable error of the resulting <7maXiSUb data was within 3.6
percent.
Experiment and Results
Extensive still and motion pictures were also taken for each
Figure 1 shows the relatively conventional apparatus that we of the fluids and at the different levels of subcooling.
used to measure qmax on cylindrical electric resistance heaters The results of the experiment are plotted in Figs. 3-6. In
ranging from 0.80 to 1.54 mm in diameter. Four liquids — these plots, # max , sub has been normalized by the saturated
isopropanol, acetone, methanol, and Freon-113-were boiled burnout heat flux predicted by Sun and Lienhard (1970)
Nomenclature
A, Acmi = area; area of vapor jets on which con- Rai = effective radius, defined in equation
densation occurs (23)
^jet> ^heater = cross-sectional area of the vapor jets; Rgas = ideal gas constant on a mass basis
area of the heater per escaping vapor R' = R[pf-Pg)/oV/2
jet Ra = Rayleigh number defined in equation
a, b, c = undetermined constants (27)
cp = specific heat at constant pressure for t = time
the boiled liquid T, Tsat, 7"bath = temperature, saturated liquid
g = acceleration of gravity temperature, actual temperature of sur-
hfg = latent heat of vaporization _ rounding liquid
Ja = volumetric Jakob number ug, ug = Helmholtz unstable velocity in a vapor
= PfcpATwh/pghfg jet; an average vapor velocity defined
k = thermal conductivity by equation (16)
Nu = Nusselt number defined in equation a = thermal diffusivity of the boiled liquid
(26) iS = volumetric coefficient of thermal
Pe = an effective Peclet number, defined in expansion
equation (20) A7"sub = saturation temperature minus the
Pr = Prandtl number = via. liquid bath temperature
<7> <7max>tfmax.sub= boiling heat flux; saturated peak pool 6 = retreating contact angle
boiling heat flux; qmm in subcooled \/> ^w = m o s t susceptible Taylor unstable
boiling wavelength, critical Helmholtz
tfmaxSun. tfmaxz = predicted <srmax for horizontal cylinders; wavelength
Zuber's estimate of <7max (see equations v = kinematic viscosity
(6) and (8)) pf, pg = saturated liquid and vapor densities
<7cond. = n e a t fl u x conducted from the vapor jet a = surface tension
interface to the surrounding subcooled T = characteristic duration of transient heat
liquid, expressed on a per-unit-heater- conduction (for which different
area basis estimates are given in the paper)
<7moi eff = molecular effusion limited q (see equa- <j) = fraction of limiting q (see equation
tion (28)) (29))
R = radius of a horizontal cylindrical X = dimensionless group defined in equa-
heater tion (32)

480/Vol. 110, MAY 1988 Transactions of the ASME

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"I — T '" i i | i • • 3.0 1
I ' ' I *I iA J*

dt &$k * A \ AA A
2.5
j t » o V ° ° ° oo o A.JN&
^
^D*
©
• • *£? -
» # ^ a
s
o
highly subcooled boiling

>§ A& .. !i
Oil
, «** — highly subcooled boiling region - — - S" Freon-113 data :

?s A 0.813 mm dia. heaters —

A" — - region of

J
A 1.042 mm dia. heaters
low
subcooling —i
s? 4 1.295 mm dia. heaters
0.5 A 1.524 mm dia. heaters
— — region of
moderate isopropanol data : —

i^~
F*S
?
subcooling —
o 0.813 mm dia. heaters
0
, i
20
, i
40
i i
60
i i
80 90
e 1.042 mm dia. heaters

ss ® 1.295 mm dia. heaters


* T
SUb = T
sa, - T
ba,h <° > C
!f« • 1.524 mm dia. heaters

-* Fig. 5 The effect of liquid subcooling on the peak heat flux, for heaters
of various sizes in Freon-113
I
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 3.0

AT s u b = T s f l t - T b a l h < ° C )
. \ * + + +* * * + ++
Fig. 3 The effect of liquid subcooling on the peak heat flux, for heaters
of various sizes in isopropanol

1
h' hi* "uhc ol ri hn'll
g J - g g

B B a n B B B r a B
m 0
B m % % mS a @ (
•am o 1.5 - j K
(acetone yields only 3 data
a a a • • a n i points in the region of

2.0 a z$rr~ region of low — moderate subcooling)


fU ffl +x subcooling

z * 0 — highly subcooled boiling


region — - acetone data : —

KB* +
•fc
0.813 mm dia. heaters
1.042 mm dia. heaters
moderate 4- 1.295 mm dia. heaters
subcooling — * 1.524 mm dia. heaters
methanol data :
1.0F
a 0.813 mm dia. heaters
to 1.042 mm dia. heaters
0 1.295 mm dia. heaters
20 60 80 100
a 1.524 mm dia. heaters

CO
i r l Fig. 6 The effect of liquid subcooling on the peak heat flux, for heaters
20 60 80 120 of various sizes in acetone
CO
the jets diminish slightly in size. In the ' 'region of intermediate
Fig. 4 The effect of liquid subcooling on the peak heat flux, for heaters subcooling" the jets give way to fairly large bubbles that con-
of various sizes in methanol
tinue to condense away after they depart from the wire.
The most dramatic surprise awaits us in the "region of high
<WSun =<7raax2[0.89 + 2.27exp(-3.44V/F)] (6) subcooling." Here two unexpected things occur: The burnout
where R' is the Laplace number based on the cylinder radius R heat flux reaches a ceiling that is independent of Ar sub , and
the bubble departure pattern takes on the appearance of
R'^R[g(Pf-Pg)/o]i/2 (7) saturated film boiling. At high superheats, very small bubbles
and qmaxz is Zuber's estimate of the peak heat flux on a leave the wire and rise, without condensing, in what must be a
horizontal flat plate thin sheet of liquid that has been heated all the way to rsat by
the wire, We have delineated this region by developing com-
imax^ = ^l'2hfi\So(Pf-Pg)Y (8) plete sets of data at the highest subcoolings while other in-
vestigators have only provided a few points.
The purpose of using the hydrodynamic prediction of qmax Our task is now to determine what factors dictate burnout
to reduce the data on an otherwise dimensional plot is to make in each of these three regimes and to do what we can about
it feasible to put data for different wire sizes on the same developing predictions of the peak heat flux in each case.
graph. While we do not claim that equation (6) presents the
correct accounting for geometric scale at high subcooling, this Heat Transfer Models
normalization nevertheless makes it possible for us to see, at
this preliminary stage, three identifiable regimes of boiling The Region of Low Subcooling. The mechanism for
behavior near ^maXiSUb, as ATsub is increased. burnout in the region of low subcooling is the same Helmholtz
The three regimes of subcooled burnout behavior become instability process that occurs in saturated boiling. However
more sharply evident in photographs made at heat fluxes near when the liquid is subcooled, more vapor must be supplied to
burnout. Indeed the photographs make it clearer than do the the escaping jets to make up that portion that condenses on
data alone that a middle region must be identified. Figures the jet walls before burnout occurs.
l{a-d) are typical photographs showing saturated boiling and This is the essence of the Zuber et al. mechanism. Like
the three subcooled regimes, just below the peak heat flux. In Zuber et al., we note that it is necessary to add to qmax the
the "region of low subcooling" some of the familiar jets-and- transient heat flux from the saturated interface of the vapor
columns behavior of saturated boiling is preserved, although jets to the surrounding subcooled liquid. The average transient

Journal of Heat Transfer MAY 1988, Vol. 110/481

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2.5 r - - - , - - - - . - - - , - - - . . , . . - - - . . . , . - - - - ,

2.0

x
.
Q

'"
E
0-

a.) Saturated acetone;


1.04 mmdia. x
.
D
------ 1.0
1
E'" data:
~ 2 eqllalion(2'l)
0- + acetone }
o methanol present 3 1

0.5 6 .Freon-113
o Isopropanol
results
t} 0 o~---'----'--'--JO.L5J -OJ. 7
--- Ivey and Morris (1962) Ja/Pe
114

oL----'-----l..---'-_ _...l.-_ _L-_--l


o 0.1 0.2 0.3

Ja/Pe 1/4

Fig. 8 Correlation of qmax sub data in the region of low subcooling in


b.) Acetone; .1.Tsub = 10.6 0 C, accordance with equation (21)

1.04 mm dia. (region of


low subcooling)
the size of the jet configuration) to the Helmholtz unstable
vapor velocity I ug • Using the Helmholtz velocity
u g = (27rU/P gAH) 112 00 (27rU/P gAd) 1/2 (10)
where the Helmholtz unstable wavelength AH for all but very
small cylinders must stand in proportion to the most suscepti-
ble Taylor wavelength Ad' for reasons of dimensional con-
sistency. The Taylor wavelength is
Ad = 27rY3[ulg(Pj_p g)jl12 (11)
c.) Freon-113; .1.Tsub = 21.6 0 C,
It follows that
0.81 mm dia. (region of Ad pl12Ul/4
moderate subcooling) 7=--00 g (12)
ug [g(Pj_P g )j3/4
o o 00 0 0 4 which is identical in form to equation (4), but it does not have
C)O
o
e 0 o c. o
the restricted coefficient of proportionality in it.
The subcooled peak heat flux can then be written in the
o following variation of equation (3):
o 0
0°0
00
o o °0 o
qrnax,sub 1+ qcond .• A cond.
(13)
o qrnaJ< qrnax A heater
0. 0 where
., 0 dA cond .
A cond . = 7---cit (14)
~ 0,
We next ask, "What is the rate of generation of interfacial
surface?" The mechanical energy stability criterion of burn-
d.) Isopropanol; .1.Tsub = 114.2 0 C, out provides the basis for answering the question. The theory,
0.81 mm dia. (region of high as articulated for pool boiling burnout by Lienhard and Hasan
(1979), says that the rate of creation of interfacial surface
sUbcooling)
should equal the rate at which vapor kinetic energy leaves the
Fig. 7 Typical photographs of nucleate boiling just below the peak heater. Thus
heat flux, In each of the regimes of subcoollng
(15)
conduction is well known. Here we express it as a flux per unit
area of the heater where Ug is the average velocity of vapor leaving the heater
= 2kf!.Tsub • A cond . Ug=qrnax,sa/pghjg (16)
qcond. - r- A (9)
"V ,/HX7 heater We also note that
where A cond . is the jet surface on which the condensation pro- Ug=Ug(AheateJAjet) (17)
cess takes place. Unfortunately, Zuber's estimate of the dura- Combining equations (10), (11), (15), and (17) we obtain
tion of conduction (7 given by equation (4» gives values on the
order of 1 ms, while the motion pictures give jet lifetimes on dA P u3 u3/4
~oo--L.!.A. oc A· (18)
the order of 100 ms. We therefore seek a more reasonable dt u Jet p~l2(g(pj_Pg)P/4 Jet
strategy, not for estimating 7, but for setting its functional
form. I We assume some familiarity with the hydrodynamic theory of burnout on
The duration of survival of a vapor jet must stand in pro- the part of the reader. We refer those unfamiliar with the theory to extensive
portion to the ratio of the Taylor wavelength Ad (which sets reviews by Lienhard and Dhir (1973) and by Witte and Lienhard (1985).

482 I Vol. 110, MAY 1988 Transactions of the ASM E

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Table 1 Average measured values of r/max in saturated liquids Equation (21) represents the available data within an rms er-
Liquid R' q q ror of ±5.95 percent.

<rWm2) "max,Sun The Region of Intermediate Subcooling. The photographs


make it clear that the low subcooling mechanism is not ap-
Acetone 0.1515 0.494 1.06
propriate to the vapor escape process in the moderately sub-
0.1651 0.487 1.08 cooled region. The jets and columns vanish in this range of
0.2015 0.466 1.09 Ar s u b as bubbles grow and condense in a region that is increas-
0.2412 0.457 1.08 ingly restricted to the neighborhood close to the cylinder.
Without jets and columns, we must then ask what sort of in-
Isopropanol 0.1513 0.525 0.92
0.1642 0.509 0.94 stability now causes burnout.
0.1956 0.471 0.93 A closer study of the photographs in both this (and this
0.2346 0.435 0.91 highly subcooled region as well) reveals intense bubble growth
and condensation action near the surface.3 Consequently,
Methanol 0.1565 0.765 1 .05
0.1590 0.744 1 .06
there is fairly limited liquid-solid contact around the heater,
0.1987 0.699 1.06 and the liquid immediately outside this highly active vapor
0.2385 0.659 1 .06 bubble layer is saturated.
One may thus imagine that the cylinder has a radius larger
Freon 113 0.1985 0.285 1.18 than R by the thickness of the bubble layer, with heat transfer
0.2480 0.265 1.20
0.3115 0.237 1.13 occurring by natural convection from the saturated liquid to
0.3725 0.219 1.10 the surrounding subcooled liquid. Normally, natural convec-
tion would not be terribly effective; however in this case the
no-slip condition (between the saturated interface and the
Finally we combine equations (6), (9), (10), (11), (12), (14), bubble layer) is largely removed by the bubble layer. We
and (18) with equation (13). The result contains a factor of therefore believe that, in this region, burnout occurs when the
AjetA4heater i n it, and we note that Sun and Lienhard found efficient phase-change process in the bubble layer reaches the
this factor to depend weakly on R'. The resultant substitu- limit of heat that can be removed by the not-quite-as-efficient
tions therefore yield natural convection process outside the vapor layer.
ffmax.sub If heat transfer is determined in this way, the dimensional
= l+f(R')Ja/Pe1 (19) functional equation for <7maXiSUb is then
Vmax
where qmax may represent either Sun's prediction or the actual Vmax.sub (22)
measured value of gmax in a saturated liquid, and where Pe is where /3 is the coefficient of thermal expansion of the liquid, v
an effective Peclet number is the kinetic viscosity, and RM is the sum of the cylinder
radius and one departing bubble diameter. We use the Fritz
Pe=- (20) (1937) departing bubble diameter (for saturated pool boiling)
<x[g(Pf-Pg)VMPg and obtain
The data for the region of low subcooling are plotted in ac-
cordance with equation (19) in Fig. 8. There are three dif- Refs = R(l+0.028/R') (23)
ficulties involved with this plot. The first arises in normalizing where the second term represents the Fritz radius. Equation 4
the ordinate. We discovered in the course of this work that (22) has eight variables in four dimensions and thus reduces to
equation (8) systematically underpredicts the saturated data four dimensionless groups
for acetone by about 8 percent, those for methanol by about 6
percent, and those for Freon-113 by about 16 percent. It over- ^max.sub^eff
predicts the data for isopropanol by about 7 percent. Closer
= /\ pav* . /3Arsub,Pr)/
KArsub
scrutiny made it clear that these systematic differences among
We do not know what functional form these groups should
the various fluids was responsible for most of the ±20 percent
take, and therefore look first for a simple power law relation.
deviation of the data that Sun originally reported for his
In doing this we assume that the primary independent variable
prediction, as well. We have therefore used the average
is the combination of the three terms on the right that we call
measured qmm values (instead of the prediction) to normalize
the Rayleigh number Ra, and that the Prandtl number Pr is
the ordinate in Fig. 8. These values are listed in Table 1.
not important beyond its role in Ra. However, correlation
The second difficulty is that of specifying which of the three reveals that the independent influence of the term &&Tsab can-
regions of subcooling a given data point falls in. We discuss not be ignored as it can in many cases of single-phase natural
this difficulty after we present the three correlations. convection. When we correlate the existing data using such a
The third difficulty - that of specifying the function relationship, we obtain
f(R')-conveniently vanishes. The process of least-squares
correlation revealed that this function was weakly enough Nu = 28 + 1.50Ra 1/4 /((3Ar sub ) 7/8 (25)
dependent on R' to be represented as the constant 4.28. Con- where the Nusselt number for this case is defined as
sequently equation (19) reduces to
(2*eff)
ffmax.sub
Nu = (26)
1 kATsub
= 1+4.28 Ja/Pe (21)
ymax
and the Rayleigh number is
where qmax is the experimentally determined value2 from
Table 1.
This action is undoubtedly coupled with mass transfer through the bubbles,
We also correlated these results using the <7max value predicted by Sun and as postulated by Edwards and Snyder (1954) (see, e.g., Snyder and Robin
Lienhard to normalize equations (19) and (21). The resulting f(R') was still a (1968).
4
constant but somewhat higher - 5.66 - and the rms deviation increased to ±10.2 The factor of 0.02 in this relation is Fritz's original constant. We had first
percent. These changes reflected the small systematic inconsistencies of equation expected that it would change in the present situation, and allowed it to be deter-
(6) mentioned above. When one does not have a measured value of <7max he may mined by least-squares correlation in the subsequent calculations. To our sur-
use equation (6) and the constant 5.66. prise, this procedure yielded the Fritz constant exactly.

Journal of Heat Transfer MAY 1988, Vol. 110/483

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0.015
_ A 1 I ' I .
O j

data : °yS
+ acetone - X A s equation (34) -
800 D methanol
A Freon-113
% ^
o isopropanol
- 0.010 — KF"
&S A '
" data -
" a methanol 1 Nichrome heaters. -
isopropanol 1 Numbers indicate number

o + <
400 - acetone f of d a t a p o i n t s f o r e a c h
°<o+ +
- Freon-113 J symbol. -
0.005 T indicates range of
s c a t t e r among data
200 ; / ^~~~~- equation (25) 1 for each symbol.

Single data points for Freon-113


- A
boiling on steel heaters.
-
100 200 500 600 i , i
l i
1/4 0 1 2 3 3.5
Ra /(/3ATsl
/
Fig. 9 Correlation of qmax,sub d a , a i n tne
region of moderate subcool- X"[R< fWW«]x1°"'
ing in accordance with equation (25) Fig. 10 Correlation oi q m a x s u b data in the region of high subcooling in
accordance with equation (34)
gpATsab(2ReS!y
Ra = (27)
smaller wires. There is clearly an influence of geometric scale
that vanishes for the larger heaters. The relevant scale
We also note that the familiar 1/4 power exponent of Ra in parameter in this process must be a transient conduction
equation (25) is the result of the correlation and it was not length, probably one that is related to the transient heating of
assumed. It, and the - 7 / 8 exponent of ( M y , were both liquid in the structure of the changing liquid-vapor interface.
obtained beyond two-decimal-place accuracy by correlation. (This presumption is checked experimentally below.) We ac-
The use of equation (25) requires values of the retreating cordingly expect <>/ to depend on the heater radius R, the ther-
contact angle 6, which enters both Nu and Ra through Ret( mal diffusivity of the liquid a, and an appropriate time scale
(recall equation (23).) We used the tilting plate method to for the problem. The available time scale in this situation is the
measure 0 for each of the liquids, at its saturation time required for molecules to flow over the characteristic
temperature, on clean nichrome. For acetone, isopropanol, distance R. Thus we write
methanol, and Freon-113, respectively, we obtained 9= 12, 18,
15, and 24 deg. R
Equation (25) is plotted with all of the available data for the > = 4>{a R, (30)
v " g a s •* sat
moderately subcooled region in Fig. 9. It represents the data
accurately within an rms error of ±7.06 percent. These four variables are expressed in just two dimensions so
equation (30) can be rearranged into a relation between two
The Region of High Subcooling. In the third regime of dimensionless groups
boiling, the boiling configuration is still similar to that in the
range of moderate subcooling. Rapidly growing and collaps- </> = <Mx) (3D
ing bubbles form and reform a thin structure of liquid-vapor where the new group x takes the form of a Peclet number. To
interfaces in which there occurs rapid transient conduction avoid confusion with the previously defined Pe, we call it x-
related to repeated contacts with the heater surface. The max- X = R(RgasTsJm/a (32)
imum heat fluxes in this regime of high subcooling are very
high - typically three times the saturated values - yet they are Those of the experimental data (shown in Figs. 3-6) that
no longer dependent on A 7 ^ . belong to the highly subcooled regime are plotted in Fig. 10 on
The fact that these heat fluxes have reached a Ar s u b - (j> versus x coordinates. Four additional 9max>SUb data were ob-
independent limit calls for a new mechanism of boiling, one tained using steel heaters with a thermal diffusivity three times
that occurs when the phase-change heat transfer process can that of nichrome. The steel heater data correlate very closely
no longer keep up with natural convection. We note that with the nichrome data when they are plotted on the coor-
Schrage (1953) pointed out that the absolute limit of a phase- dinates required by equation (31). Therefore we are confident
change heat flux was the limit set by the effusion of molecules that our selection of the conduction length based on the liquid
in one direction from an interface. He noted that this heat flux diffusivity was appropriate.
is approximated within a few percent by The data suggest a correlation of the form
(28) <j> = a + becx (33)
<7mol.eff. = P g f c / g V i ? g a s 7 ; a t / 2 i r
where i? gas is the ideal gas constant on a unit mass basis. A least-squares fit of this form yields
This is an ideal limit that cannot ever be reached in any but 0 = 0.01 +0.0047exp(- 1.11 X 10" 6 x) (34)
the most idealized system. However, the actual limit reached which represents the data with an rms deviation of 6.82
in a real process should be related to this limit.5 Thus we percent.
define the fraction of this limit reached in an experiment,
<j>= gma*.sub (29) Discussion
<7mol.eff.
On Determining the Region in Which a Given Data Point
The data come very close to defining the same fraction Will Fall. A serious, and essentially unresolved, problem
<t> - slightly in excess of 0.01 - for all of the fluids investigated. with the three predictions is that of determining which of them
However, the data reveal that 4> deviates upward for the is appropriate to a heater of given size in a given liquid at a
given Ar s u b . Figure 11 is a typical plot of raw d a t a - d a t a for
5
This idea is developed further by Gambill and Lienhard (1986). 1.04 mm dia heaters in methanol. It also includes the three

484/Vol. 110, MAY 1988 Transactions of the ASME

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2.0 -I 1
1.2 ~7~l 7
1.B ^ equation C34) + + +
1.0
- equation (21) - equation (34)
/-
1.6
equation (25) E 0.8 equation (25)
^ 1.4 / **
S 0.6 tf
(MW/m

1.2

1.0 | 0.4 + data for acetone


cr boiling on 1.295 mrr
! 0.8
cylinders.

r/
* 0.2
0.6 D data for methanol _l_
boiling on 1.04 mm 0 40 60 80 120
0.4 cylinders.
,CC>
0.2
Fig. 12 Comparison of the data with the three predictions for acetone
0 _1_ boiling on 1.3-mm-dia cylinders
20 60 80 120
CO
superposed flow, and cannot be compared with a pool boiling
Fig. 11 Comparison of the data with the three predictions for methanol correlation.
boiling on 1.04-mm-dia cylinders
Finally, our moderate and high subcooling correlations are
predictions for the three regions, equations (21), (25), and based on a uniform-wall-temperature assumption. Several of
(34). This plot dramatizes the difficulty we face. the extant <7maXiSUb data were obtained on thin-walled, high-
One would want the three regions to be delineated by the in- thermal-resistance tubes (Ivey and Morris used such heaters).
tersections of the three correlating equations. However, in Therefore, the only significant surviving data set that we are
some cases the low and moderate subcooling region curves in- aware of, with which we can compare our results, are the Ivey
tersect and in some cases they do not. In Fig. 11 they do not, and Morris data for water in the region of low subcooling. The
and the data clearly jump from the low A!Tsub prediction to the line through the center of these data is shown in Fig. 8. (The
moderate ATsvb prediction at about 30°C. We do not yet know scatter of these data about the line shown is approximately the
what factors determine where this jump occurs. same as ours.)
We used the following procedure to identify the appropriate This ex post facto comparison is almost perfect despite the
region for each data point. We first guessed the region on the fact that it involves a liquid - water - not involved in the
basis of Figs. 3-6. Then we made preliminary correlations of present correlation. This data set extends to a subcooling of
the data and generated plots similar to those in Fig. 11. Next 70 °C and it compares well with equation (21) over the entire
we judged which points lay in which region by looking at each range. Furthermore, Ivey and Morris' photographs show that
point in relation to the predictions. Finally, we made new cor- the jets-and-columns structure is more or less preserved at
relations based on these decisions. After about three such least to Arsub = 610C.
iterations no further changes were required. At high subcooling, the Ivey-Morris data substantially ex-
The results obtained for acetone in this process exhibited a ceed the limit set by equation (34). Since their experiments in-
trend different from that shown in Fig. 11. The low and volved a constant wall heat flux, they probably caused boiling
moderate Arsub predictions intersected at a very small value of contact to be maintained over the entire cylinder surface. In
Arsub as shown in Fig. 12. The acetone data (for all but the our experiments, contact is probably localized at the bottom
smallest heaters) failed to deviate from the low Arsub predic- of the heater.
tion until they reached the high A7"sub limit. A Note on the Function: <7max,sul)(Arsub). For many years
The resulting boundary between the moderate and high sub- the common wisdom has been that <7maXiSUb varies directly as
cooling regions is clearly defined by the single intersection be- Ar sub . This linearity has been roughly borne out by existing
tween equations (25) and (34). When equations (21) and (25) data sets and models. The present study shows that
intersect, the left-hand point of intersection does not locate
the transition between the regions of low and moderate sub- • The relation is linear in the region of low subcooling.
cooling and we have no situation in which the right hand in- • <7max,sub varies approximately as (ATsub)}/s in the region of
tersection occurs in the range of interest. All cases of transi- moderate subcooling except as it is modified by the strong
tion from low to moderate ATsub behavior occurred at a seem- temperature dependence of the thermal properties.
8
ingly arbitrary point. In the region of high subcooling, #maX|SUb shows no
dependence on ATsvb except for a small influence of physical
Comparison of the Present Correlations With Literature property variations.
Data. Certain of the existing data sets are incompletely The previous experimental studies could not reveal these lat-
reported, and many of the other sets reflect system variables ter two regimes because, without a large number of data, tight
that are inconsistent with the present models. Our models ap- control of all variables, and a wide range of ATsub they simply
ply only to pool boiling on "large" isothermal cylinders. were not evident. Kutateladze, for example, failed to
All three of our correlation equations are restricted to burn- discriminate influences of heater size, or even to report
out on cylinders for which R' is greater than about 0.1. It was diameters. His data might actually have reached into the high
demonstrated by Bakhru and Lienhard (1972) that the subcooling region, but not far enough to make the actual
hydrodynamic burnout processes are completely destroyed as trend apparent.
R' falls below 0.1, because capillary forces then dominate the
vapor escape. Many of the extant data lie in this range, and
none of them can be compared with our correlations. Conclusions and Open Issues
Some of the extant data for <7max?sub were obtained by keep- 1 We have obtained what we believe to be the most com-
ing the liquid subcooled with a superposed liquid flow across prehensive set of subcooled <?max data yet developed, and they
the cylinder. Subsequent studies of flow boiling burnout have reveal that there are three regions of subcooled burnout
shown that such data were, in fact, strongly influenced by the behavior.

Journal of Heat Transfer MAY 1988, Vol. 110/485

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2 In the region of lowest subcooling, burnout occurs as a References
consequence of the conventional hydrodynamic instability,
but gmaXiSUb is augmented by the extra vapor that must be Bakhru, N., and Lienhard, J. H., 1972, "Boiling From Small Cylinders,"
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 15, No. 11, pp. 2011-2025.
generated to satisfy condensation on the jet walls. Equation Edwards, D. K., 1954, "The Role of Interphase Mass Transfer in the
(21), based on this model, represents the data within an rms er- Mechanism of Nucleate Boiling," Master's Thesis, Mech. Engr. Dept., Univer-
ror of 5.85 percent. sity of California, Berkeley, CA.
3 In the region of moderate subcooling, burnout occurs Elkassabgi, Y., May 1986, "The Peak Pool Boiling Heat Flux From Horizon-
tal Cylinders in Subcooled Liquids," Doctoral Dissertation, Mech. Engr. Dept.,
when the nucleate boiling process supplies heat to the Univ. of Houston, Houston, TX.
saturated outer edge of the bubble layer faster than natural Fritz, W., 1937, "Maximum Volume of Vapor Bubbles," Z.furPhysik, Vol.
convection can remove it. Equation (25), based on this model, 36, pp. 379-384.
represents the data within an rms error of 7.02 percent. Gambill, W. R., and Lienhard, J. H., 1986, "An Upper Bound for the Boil-
ing Heat Flux," ASME-JSME Thermal Engineering Joint Conference,
4 In the region of high subcooling, burnout occurs when Honolulu, HI, Mar. 22-27, 1986.
the nucleate boiling process itself is limited by molecular effu- Ivey, H. J., and Morris, D. J., 1962, "On the Relevance of the Vapour-
sion and fails to provide energy as rapidly as it can be removed Liquid Exchange Mechanism for Sub-cooled Boiling Heat Transfer at High
by natural convection. Equation (34), based on this model, Pressure," UKAEA Report No. AEEW-R 137.
Ivey, H. J., and Morris, D. J., 1966, "Critical Heat Flux of Saturation and
represents the data with an rms error of 6.82 percent. Subcooled Pool Boiling in Water at Atmospheric Pressure," Proc. 3rd Int. Heat
5 Each correlation represents the data within about twice Transfer Conf, Vol. Ill, Chicago, IL, Aug. 10, 1966, pp. 129-142.
the probable error estimate. All are restricted to R' >0.1 and Kutateladze, S. S., 1951, "Hydrodynamic Theory of Changes in the Boiling
the moderate and high subcooling correlations are applicable Process Under Free Convection Conditions," Izv. Akad. Nauk. SSSR, Otd.
Tekh. Nauk., No. 4, p. 529.
only to isothermal cylinders. Kutateladze, S. S., and Schneiderman, L. L., 1953, "Experimental Study of
6 Additional experiments aimed at diagnosing com- Influence of Temperature of Liquid on Change in the Rate of Boiling," USAEC
ponents of the present models are needed. This is particularly Rept, AEC tr. 3405, pp. 95-100.
true of the convective or "moderately subcooled" region. Lienhard, J. H., and Dhir, V. K., 1973, "Extended Hydrodynamic Theory of
the Peak and Minimum Pool Boiling Heat Fluxes," NASA CR-2270.
7 The most serious unresolved issue in this study is that of Lienhard, J. H., and Hasan, M. M., 1979, "On Predicting Boiling Burnout
specifying, a priori, which region is appropriate for a given Wtih the Mechanical Energy Stability Criterion," ASME JOURNAL OF HEAT
ATsub in a given liquid and on a heater of a given size. TRANSFER, Vol. 101, No. 2, pp. 276-9.
8 Subcooled burnout on uniform-wall-heat-flux cylinders Lienhard, J. H., and Witte, L. C , 1985, "An Historical Review of the
Hydrodynamic Theory of Boiling," Cftetn. Engr. Revs., Vol. 3, Nos. 3 and 4,
should be studied both experimentally and analytically. pp. 187-280.
Schrage, R. W., 1953, Interphase Mass Transfer, Columbia University Press,
New York, Chap. II.
Snyder, N. W., and Robin, T. T., 1968, "Mass-Transfer Model in Subcooled
Nucleate Boiling," ASME-AIChE Heat Transfer Conf., Philadelphia, PA,
Acknowledgments Aug. 11-14, 1968, Paper No. 68-HT-51.
The initial work on the design of this experiment was done Sun, K. H., and Lienhard, J. H., 1970, "The Peak Pool Boiling Heat Flux on
Horizontal Cylinders," Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 13, pp. 1425-1439.
in 1980-81 by Dr. S. M. Liu while she was on leave from Na- Zuber, N., Tribus, M., and Westwater, J. W., 1963, "The Hydrodynamic
tional Taiwan University. This work has received support Crisis in Pool Boiling of Saturated and Subcooled Liquids," International
under NSF Grant No. MEA-8218708. Developments in Heat Transfer, No. 27, ASME, New York, pp. 230-236.

486/Vol. 110, MAY 1988 Transactions of the ASME

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